We first saw Samsung’s Gear S back in September during the IFA tech show in Berlin. After much delay, the standalone superwatch is finally on its way to the United States. Samsung announced that its largest smartwatch will be available on November 7 at AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, and Verizon. You’ll also have the chance to pick one up at Best Buy and other retailers.
The Gear S looks like a cuff or bangle bracelet with a huge screen in the middle. The smartwatch sports a 2-inch AMOLED screen with a 360 x 480 pixel resolution, can run without the help of your smartphone, and even makes calls or sends text messages. The watch-phone is powered by a dual-core 1GHz processor, comes with 4GB of storage, 512MB of RAM, and a 300mAh battery. It runs Samsung’s Tizen operating system and offers a wide-array of apps.
Samsung packed a lot of sensors into the watch, including an accelerometer, UV sensor, barometer, heart rate monitor, and GPS. The Gear S also boasts an IP67 rating for dust- and water-resistance, so it should remain in working condition even if it gets a little wet. Samsung made an effort to make the Gear S look distinctive and the watch hit the runway at New York Fashion week. It also comes in special variants from Diesel and Swarovski. It’s unclear where you’ll be able to buy these more fashionable versions of the Gear S, though.
Starting on November 7, the Gear S will be available at AT&T for $200 with a two year agreement. ST&T customers can add the Gear S to a Mobile Share plan for $10 extra each month. Sprint will also sell the Gear S on November 7 and users can get it for $0 down and make 24 monthly payments of $16 to own the watch. Sprint says the Gear S can be added to a Sprint Family Share Pack for a $10 per month per line access charge.
Meanwhile, T-Mobile is already accepting pre-orders for the device and introduced a special plan that gives Gear S buyers unlimited data and texting with up to 500 MB of data for only $5 a month. The watch itself will cost $0 down, but would-be buyers must pay $14.58 for 24 months to own the device. Verizon has yet to announce prices.
